The Big Girl Things we do...

What a busy--big girl week!!!

Isn't she grown up sitting by her table?
(she has been known to tip over, though.)

Yes, and we like to stand sometimes too!
(By ourself, of course!)

We have started drinking from a sippy cup. Her bottle is still her first choice, but when offered the sippy (and we are thirsty) we'll drink from it! WOOHOO! We still have some that goes down the chin, but overall...we are swallowing!!

We also are now signing "more"...and she completely understands "eat", but hasn't signed it yet. She also will raise her hands up above her head when she is "all done" eating. Talk about cute! OH MY GOSH!!!

We have a toy box that when the different shapes go into the box, it will sing. A couple of weeks ago I began working with her by setting the shapes on the side of the box where she would then knock them into the box. Well, earlier this week (or was it late last week?) she began pulling them OUT of the box. She has been attempting it for sometime and would get SSSOOOO frustrated because she couldn't them out (there's an edge on the opening). Well, now she can. Then she promptly throws the shape across the room. Heck, right now, she throws EVERYTHING she gets in her hands!

And what else...how could I forget the biggest one of all??? SHE'S SLEEPING IN HER CRIB!!! Celebrate!!! She has so much room to roam in her crib and she takes advantage of every inch all night long. Mom gets to sleep in a bed (not her bed, mind you, but one that is quite comfortable none the less). WOOHOO! She started with naps on Monday...and by Tuesday night we figured we'd try it...and she did GREAT! She has an awesome singing crib toy that is quite relaxing and she enjoys listening to that while she is falling to sleep.

(Yes, she's in her pjs again...it just seems like the time of day she's most cooperative to both play and let me take photos of her...6am...previous post was in pjs too...she has so many cute outfits, I need to take more photos during the day after she's dressed! And that's also why her hair is always askew...in case you were wondering if we were going for a retro look! haha. We're not.)

We ARE Sassy...

Making Ornery Eyes...
which are then followed by...

Smiley Megan
as she smiles at us making the same face back at her

I don't know how we're going to survive the terrible twos (or threes as I've heard of late)...because I SWEAR to you we've already entered them. We definitely have a spicy one on our hands! WHEW!

We went to get her pictures taken for the first time professionally...what an interesting experience. She'd been a toot all weekend, but we attributed it to the 2 teeth she's cutting. Well, at least one of them have broken the skin--a little, anyways--but we were still being a little pill! Pretty much the only face she would give for at least the first 10 minutes of the session was what I call the "ornery eyes" (otherwise known at "angry eyes"...I always think of Mrs. Potato Head telling Mr. Potato Head on Toy Story to make sure to pack them before his journey to get Woody.) Whenever we make the face back at her, she lasts for a few more seconds, then breaks into a smile. The little toot...and usually throws in the rolling of the eyes at some point too. I knew God would give me kids with an attitude (and Ian sure had one!!!)...but man, I just don't think I'm up to this!!! It is exhausting!

<<HAHAHAHA>> and to think we thought she was laid back! Boy did she fool us! And the director said she was lazy...well, she needs to come to my house..the kid does NOT sit still (well except the store carts, but then she's still usually rocking side to side while she looks around)!!!! I always ask her if she has wiggles in her butt...because she is always wiggling.

(And by the way...YES, we did get one of the poses of her making this face at the studio...we HAD to. Good ammunition for when she's a teenager! Yes, I'm a mean mom.)

What's up???

A few photos from the last couple of days....

Standing in our crib...now, if only we'd sleep in there!

Megan loves her wagon
She has started to put her ballerina leg (always the left one) up on the ledge.

Ballerina in training? Yes?

Prayers are Needed...

Steven Curtis Chapman's youngest daughter, Maria Sue, has been killed in a tragic car accident at their home. You can read more here and here. He and his wife have adopted 3 girls from China. As you can imagine, their family and friends are absolutely devastated. I simply cannot imagine being blessed by a delightful daughter from China for the Lord to take her only a few short years later (I think she was around 5 years old.) Maria Sue is the daughter the Lord placed on Steven's heart to adopt after doing humanitarian work at her orphanage. He was not planning on adding another child to their family. And she stole their hearts.

The Chapmans are very well known within the China adoptive community and have a foundation that grants scholarships to help families adopt from China. Pray for them at this horrible time of loss.

Fun with G&G

On Saturday, as Daddy & I were getting the house ready for the party, Megan went on a stroller ride with Grandma V & Grandpa C. Since we were outside cutting Daddy's hair when they got done, they played on the patio in the shade since it was so nice outside. Daddy's so talented, he took this while I was cutting his hair!

Megan's 1!

Daddy & the birthday girl!

Mommy & birthday girl

Yesterday was Megan's birthday! She has changed so much in the past few weeks. She LOVES to roll all over and can get across the room in a matter of minutes. She also loves to make noises...Daddy has been saying "GGRRREEEAAATTT" (think Tony the Tiger). Well, guess who attempts to imitate him! It really sounds like that what she is saying after Dad says it. It's too cute! She sometimes says mama...but mostly likes to say na-na-na-na-na. She's attempting to crawl...and LOVES to stand. She's also really nosy--she wants to know everything that is going on. She's doing better with table food.

Here is video of Megan with her birthday cupcake. I fully expected her to simply look at it, but she got quite into it! (Okay, having problems with Blogger...but it's fixed now!)

Whew! What a week!

Bethany & Megan

Thankfully...the semester is officially over. I stayed up late (well, late for us now! It was only 10:30ish.) to finish up the final papers and get the grades submitted. What a relief. Now, I feel like I have my life back!

We did have a short play date yesterday with Stacey & Bethany to introduce the girls to each other. Stacey & Bethany live a few blocks away. They came home a couple of months before us and Bethany is just a few days younger than Megan. They did finally warm up to each other about the time they had to go home! But, we'll be scheduling another one soon! It was encouraging to me to see how far Bethany has come over the past few weeks...things Megan is not doing yet...but should soon!

The last couple of nights of sleeping have been pretty good. Last night Megan went to sleep late (I think it was 8pm), but she slept really good by herself. I think we figured out that she needs to be held for about 3o minutes after she falls asleep, then we can put her in bed and she'll sleep good. Last night, in fact, once Keith put her down, she didn't hardly stir...and didn't wake up until 1 am! I thought I had died and gone to heaven...unfortunately I wish I could have gone to bed at 9pm..think how much consecutive sleep I would have gotten! Ahhh, to dream. The day will come...I know it will!

Mothers Day and other Things

Well, our first Mothers Day with Megan was...uneventful. Unfortunately, I had so many papers to grade that I wasn't able to get done the week before that I spent the entire weekend doing just that--grading papers. So, Dad had Megan duty pretty much all weekend. Next year, we are hoping to be able to go to the zoo or park or something more fun than grading papers all weekend!

This video clip is Megan talking (which she does a lot of now). The funny part is that it took an hour for us to get this clip! (You should see each of the previous tries!) She is such a turkey...as soon as sees the camera, she will get quiet and just smile (which you'll see at the end of the video). Yes, it's dark--because unfortunately, my living room is dark--and we had to be sneaky! In fact, the rest of the story is that every time I heard her talking, I'd sneak from the office up the hall with the camera and try to catch her. She must have supersonic radar because she would get completely quiet even though she didn't see me!

The formula issue has been resolved (at least she's still drinking this new kind!). If only the sleeping would improve, but it's only been 6 weeks since we got her. So considering that...and the many beds she and I have slept in together in those 6 weeks, she really is doing well. I think the problem last night was that she was hot...I don't know how to keep her from getting hot, while not getting chilled. She had a lightweight sleeper on with absolutely no covers and yet this morning there was a HUGE wet spot from her head (yes, her head...not lower!). And it happened between 4:30am and 6am! In fact the sleeper at the base of her neck was all wet. So, any ideas on how to keep a sweater from waking up because they are hot...I'll take 'em!

Formula problem resolved?

I sure hope so! She's drank more of this formula in the last 24 hours than she has drank over the past 4 days. Let's pray we're good! We're still attempting to use the sippy cup with water. I can't say it's going well...but I figure if we keep trying she'll get it. It appears she knows what do with it (as it runs down her chin), but plays more than drinks, but that's fine...we're getting closer. I did try a straw (as some people said their child figured out a straw early)...um, yeah, that was funny! All she did was chew on it! Go figure.

Well...we're supposed to get immunizations today...I have no idea how many shots it will be...but I'm sure that means it'll be a fun afternoon. Especially since last night wasn't so great--she was quite restless which meant virtually no sleep for mom (unfortunately).

The Spice has appeared

Who can deny this cute face? Spicy or not?

My little emailing buddy!
(yes she is standing by the couch mostly on her own)

Well, I wondered whether Megan was not feeling well (which is still possible, I think she's teething, actually) or whether her spicy-ness has appeared. I honestly think we're spicy...we're certainly beginning to express our opinion about things (if only Mom & Dad knew what it was she wanted!).

We are still having problems getting her to drink her formula. We've tried three kinds (all of which she has drank without any problems before!), changed bottles and nipples and still can't get her to drink more than 2-3 ounces at a time. (Yes, we've tried the sippy cup, and she still doesn't really get the point of it yet. Closer probably, but not yet.) If we are lucky, she'll drink 8-10oz a day...yes, that is right, A DAY! So, we're trying yet another kind, which I'm told tastes more like the Chinese formula. (Did someone taste the two and determine they were similar??? I don't want to know!) I even to Wal-mart at 5am to get it so we could try it (and yes, she went with me, as she was already awake). She drank 4 ounces, so that's more than I could get her to drink at any one time for several days. The verdict is still out if she likes it or not. She will drink some apple juice (which is really mostly water), but not more than 8oz a day either. I'm concerned about her getting dehydrated. We're going back to the doctor tomorrow, maybe he'll have some suggestions on how to manage the spicy-ness and get her to drink her milk!

Doctor Visit #2

The doctor's intention was for Megan to get immunizations, however, she has an upper respiratory infection. So, the doctor decided to wait another week. We have to take Megan to another appointment next week, so we just decided to combine them and get her immunizations then. I really don't know how many or what ones she is going to end up getting next week, but some shots.

So, the good news from the doctor's appointment...she now weighs 16 lbs 9 oz! WOOHOO! The doctor was even impressed!!!! Mommy was super excited that she hadn't lost her mind as she's been feeling like Megan was getting heavier! We've had to move the Exersaucer up one...because she's gotten so tall!

Some other new things we do...purse our lips for medicines (up to this point she's taken them fine...until yesterday!) We clap our hands on our own. We like to push up on our arms when we are laying on our tummy...hopefully that means we're close to crawling. We are much more engaged with our toys. Heck, now we can pick up toys that we had no idea what to do with when we were in China! Oh, and today, we've had an attitude about what we'll eat and what we won't! I don't know if that's because she's not feeling herself or she found herself (aka her spicy-ness is coming out!). I'm thinking it's likely the latter....which will make life interesting!

Family Fun

A few photos from this week visiting with family....

Nana Lin & Grandpa Steve with Megan

Cousin Ashley & Megan

Grandma Patty & Grandpa Gale with Megan

Auntie Tosha & Uncle Clark with Cousin Brooklyn, Megan & Mommy

Auntie Jodi and Cousin Brady with Megan

Uncle Greg & Auntie Katie with Megan
(don't tell my other aunties...but I think she might be my favorite!)

One Month Ago

April 1

On April 1st, Megan officially and legally became our daughter! On the one hand, it seems like yesterday...but really, it feels like she's always been with us!

April 30

Things she does now...rolls over...stands....LOVES to jump...talks like crazy (well, in baby language anyways!)

Fun at Nana's

We just got back from Nana's house yesterday. One of the days we were there, Megan began splashing in her bath...for the FIRST time! It was so cute! Every day after that one, the splashing got bigger and bigger and bigger! In fact, the last bath at Nana's...the floor and window were SO WET simply wiping up the water would have cleaned the floor! It was too cute.